Automatic furnace-damper regulator.



T. G. CHRISTIE.

AUTOMATIC FURNACE DAMPER REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY a, 1913.

1,09,534, I Patented Apr. 14, 191%.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I l Elwuwvtoz Thomas G. Ghrzlshle,

T. G. CHRISTIE.

AUTOMATIC FURNACE DAMPER REGULATOR.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 8, 1913.

Patented Apr. 14 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UTED STAS AUTOMATIC FURNACE-DAMPER REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 8, 1913. Serial No. 777,891.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS C. Crmis'rrn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lebanon, in the county of Warren and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Furnace-Damper Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improved automatically operating apparatus for regulating the draft of a furnace to enable a house or other building in which the furnace is installed to be maintained at a uniform temperature at all times while the furnace is in operation, the invention consisting in the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved mechanism for regulating the draft door and check draft of a furnace and which is operatedby the expansion and contraction of the body of the heater under varying temperatures.

Another object is to provide means for varying or shifting the fulcrum of the balance bar to so control the action of the latter under the impulse of the thermostatically acting heater body as-to enable the apparatus to be regulated according to the outdoor temperature.

In the accompanying drawings:-Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of a heat regulator constructed in accordance with my in vention, the casing of the-furnace being in-- dicated insection. Fig. 2 is a detail sec- .tional'view on a larger scale of my improved heat regulating apparatus. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the same on the plane indicated by the line a-a of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation, showing a modification of theconstruction of the supporting bar-in which the latter is adapted to be used on hot water and steam furnaces which have no casings.

For the purposes of this specification, a furnace is indicated at 1, comprising a body 2 of suitable construction and a, suitable casing 3. The smoke pipe is indicated at 4 provided with the usual check. draft do6r 5, the fuel door is indicated at 6 and the direct draft door is indicated at 7. The check 5 and thedraft 7 are hinged at their upper sides and adapted to open upwardly. l The body of the furnace or heater expands and contracts under variations of temperature so that its top rises somewhat the furnace, so that the said thrust rod or balance post moves upwardly when the furnace expands and downwardly when the furnace contracts.

Any suitable means may be employed for mounting the balance post, and I here show a guide tube 9 which passes through the head 10 of the furnace casing and is held in place by clamping nuts 11. The balance post passes downwardly through the said guide tube. A supporting bar 12 is arranged across the center of the head of the furnace casing and is secured at its ends as at 13 and has an opening through which the guide tube 9 extends, clamping nuts 13 being screwed on the said guide tube and bearing on the upper and lower sides of the said supporting bar.

The upper end of the balance post is bifur-' catedas at 14 and is beveled on one side to a sharp edge 15. ranged in the bifurcated upper end of the balance post and is rovided with aseries of notches 17, one 0 which is engaged by the edge 15so that thebalance bar is supported by and adapted to rock on the upper end of the balance post. The balance bar extends across and above theupper end of the furnace, one end thereof is connected to the check draft as by means of achain 18 and the opposite end thereof is connected to the draft 7 as by means of a chain 19. These chains may be adjustably connected to the balance bar in initially-adjusting the regulating apparatus and the balance bar is shown as provided at its ends with adjust ing openings 20-21 for this purpose, each of the chains being provided at its upper end with a suitable clevis 22 which may be con- A balance bar 16 is ar-- Patented Apr. ii, iota.

nected to anyone of the adjusting openings,

as will be understood.

A standard or support 23 which I prefer to call a fulcrum post is secured to and rises from the supporting bar 12 and is here.

shown as provided at its lower end with a brace 24. In the upper end of the said'ful- 'crum 0st is a direction pulle 25. A ful crum ar 26 is pivotally mounted-on the fulcrum post as at 27, is arranged in an inclined position, its pivot 27 is nearer its lower endthan its upper end and its lower end is rounded on the under side as at 28 and bears on a pin 29 which projects slightly from the upper side of the balance bar. This fulcrum bar by, reason of the fact that its lower end bears on the balance bar at a point to one side of the connection between the balance bar and the balance the notches of which form a scale indicating degrees of temperature, as shown in Fig. 1. By connecting the upper end of the chain .to any one of the notches 31 the fulcrum bar may be fixed at a required angle and by varying the connection of the chain the fulcrum' bar may be shifted pivotally so as to vary its fulcrum connection or point of contact with the pin 29 of the balance bar, ac-- cording to the desired temperature. When the temperature in the furnace rises the resultant expansion of the furnace causes the balance post to move upwardly. The upward movement of the balance bar with thebalance post is resisted by the fulcrum bar and, hence, the end of the balance bar to which the check draft is connected is caused to rise and to open the check draft while the end of the balance bar to which the draft 7 is connected is caused to be lowered and thus correspondingly close the draft door.

When the furnace cools to some extent, its

contraction causes the balance post to be correspondingly lowered and thereupon the balance bar is caused by the fulcrum bar to be lowered at the end connected to the check draft and raised at the end connected to the draft door and, hence, the apparatus acts automatically to control the draft and the check draft and the thermostatic action of the body of the furnace is availed of to thus regulate the draft of the furnace.

By shifting the fulcrum of the balance bar by the means and in the manner hereinbefore described, the leverage of the balance bar on the check draft and draft docir may be varied as required by the outdoor temperature so that the temperature of the house heated by the furnace can be maintained at the desired degree, irrespective of outdoor temperature.

When my improved automatic furnace damper regulators are for use on hot water and steam furnaces which have no casings,

the supporting bar 12 may be supported by uprights'12 above the furnace, as indicated in Fig. 4. Any suitable means may be employed to secure and mount the supporting. bar 'thin the scope of my invention.

1. In combination with a furnace expansible by heat and having a draft door and a check draft door, a casing for the furnace having a head and a supporting bar arranged across said head, a guide tube verti-- 2. A heat regulating apparatus comprising in combination a heater adapted to eX-' pand and contract under variations of temperature, *a draft door and a check draft door for the heater, a balance post connected to the heater and movable thermostatically thereby, a bar balanced on the balance post and connected to the draft bar and check draft, and areIatively fixed fulcrum for the balance bar and arranged at a point to one side of the connection between the balance bar and the balance post, the said fulcrum comprising a pivotally mounted inclined bar arranged with its lower end bearlng on the balance bar.

3. A heat regulating apparatus comprising in combination a heater-adapted to expand and contract under variatlons of temperature, a draft door and a, check. draft door for the heater, a balance-post connected to the heater and movable thermostatlcally thereby, a bar balanced on the balance post and connected to the draft bar and check draft, and a relatively fixed fulcrum for the balance bar and arranged at a point to one side of the connection between the balance bar and the balance post, the said fulcrum comprising a pivotally mounted inclined bar arranged with its lower end bearmggonthe balance bar, and means to vary the inclination of the fulcrum bar and hence vary the leverage of said balance bar.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS C. CHRISTIE.

Witnesses:

THOMAS D. FRASER, JNO. P. GRANDIN. 

